Biden Speaks in California as he Announces Student Loan Relief Transcript

As a licensed physician assistant, educator, and public health practitioner, I teach public health and health occupations. I’m a proud American Federation of Teachers, Los Angeles College Faculty Guild 1521 union member.

(00:18)
I took out student loans to get my undergraduate degree at Howard University, my master’s degree at UCLA, and then my doctoral degree, because I wanted to be better equipped and I wanted to serve my community. I want to live my own American dream. I’ve been working hard, faced with repaying my loans for almost two decades. But like millions of Americans, doing the right thing wasn’t enough. As I paid my loans, I was steered into forbearance by my loan servicer. The interest grew and grew. I took out approximately $95,000 in loans, but after 18 years in repayment, I still had $144,652 left.

(01:02)
It’s crushing, until President Biden, who kept his commitment and completely forgave that $144,652, and that’s life-changing. I no longer have to be forced to choose to work or to settle to simply pay off student loan debt. I’m able to continue my passion for public service and keep serving as an adjunct faculty with the community college district and as a physician assistant at school-based health centers. I am now married. I’m able to pay my mortgage in Los Angeles. This freedom, this breathing room is because of President Joe Biden. And just two weeks ago I had my baby girl. It’s a defining moment for me to live my dream of being a mom, because President Biden has the back of hardworking Americans, public servants just like me. I can invest in my retirement, secure a brighter future for my daughter. It is with great honor and gratitude to introduce to you our president, Joe Biden.

What’s your baby’s name?

[inaudible 00:02:24].

[inaudible 00:02:24].

[inaudible 00:02:24].

[inaudible 00:02:24].

(02:24)
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

(02:36)
Well, Dr. Saint Paul, thank you very much for the introduction, but you know you’re like a thousands of others who took out loans from undergraduate school and graduate school, because you wanted to serve your community, and you have, but in the meantime that $90,000 you borrowed grew to $145,000, even though you kept paying on a monthly basis. Folks, I’m happy to have been able to forgive these loans, because when we realize and relieve Americans of their student debt, they’re free to chase their dreams. And Doc, you got one of your dreams, your baby girl. By the way, an awful lot of people with student debt are putting off whether they can have a child, whether they can… A whole range of basic, basic fundamental issues.

(03:23)
And Mayor Bass, thank you for your partnership and maybe more importantly for me, your friendship. And I want to thank the Culver City Mayor. Where are you, Mayor? Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And it’s great to be joined by members of Congress. Alex and the Senate and Sydney in the house. I really appreciate your being here. It’s a Busman’s holiday for you guys to come here when other public official speak. But thank you. And I know our great vice president sends her love to all her California friends. She constantly… All I hear about is California. I’m glad to be here. When I was vice president, all I heard about was Chicago. But I’m trying to make sure they hear about Delaware, but it ain’t working yet.

(04:13)
Look, Kamala and I ran to lead this country. We made a commitment to fix our broken student loan system. That was one of the things we both talked about in the beginning. Because, while a college degree is still a ticket to a better life, that ticket is too expensive and too many Americans are still saddled with unsustainable debt in exchange for a college degree. So there’s a student loan program to be able to afford a college degree, but a lot of people didn’t take advantage of it and I wanted to make sure they did. The ability to repay though has become so burdensome. A lot of people can’t even repay and they try. They don’t miss payments, they work like the devil every month to pay their bills, but even they pay their loans, their debt increases, doesn’t diminish because of interest rates. And I thought I’d make a lot more sense to relieve student debt for families and would grow our economy.

(05:04)
Well, there were existing programs in the law to fix and adjust the programs. We had to change them to make people actually… Make them available for you, make people eligible. And that’s what I’ve done when the Supreme Court said I couldn’t go ahead and relieve all the debt. It helps everyone, not just the people whose debt is relieved, but when people with student debt relieved, they buy homes, they start businesses, they contribute, they engage in the community in ways they weren’t able to before. It actually grows the economy. It grows the economy. That’s why my administration has taken significant action to provide student debt relief to so many boroughs, many who didn’t know they were able to get relief, and do it as quickly as possible.

(05:54)
Look, early in my term I announced a major plan to provide millions of working families with debt relief for their college student debt. Tens of millions of people in debt were literally about to be canceled their debts. But my [inaudible 00:06:08] Republican friends in the Congress and elected officials in special interests stepped in and sued us and the Supreme Court blocked it. They blocked it. But that didn’t stop me. I announced we were going to pursue alternative paths for student debt relief for as many borrowers as possible. And that’s the effort that’s been underway the last two years.

(06:26)
I fixed what’s called the SAVE Plan. It existed, but I fixed it to make it the most affordable repayment plan ever. Before I took office, student borrowers had to pay 10% of their discretionary income on a monthly basis. If they made less than… If they didn’t have enough to do that, they were able to not have to pay that month, but their interest continued. A lot of people don’t have the means to do that though. Under my SAVE Plan, we’re cutting in half to 5%, what undergraduate borrowers have to pay after their living expenses are accounted for. That means no one with an undergraduate loan, whether it’s a community college or a four-year college will have to pay more than 5% of their discretionary income to repay those loans starting in July. And that’s income after you pay the net for necessities like food and housing. Already 7.5 million Americans have enrolled in this so-called SAVE Plan, and there’s more than 4 million of those borrowers who had their monthly payments dropped to zero if they’re living paycheck-to-paycheck below a certain level. This plan is the most generous repayment program ever, and today we’re doing it even faster and quicker than ever before.

(07:37)
I’m proud to announce our SAVE Plan. We are immediately canceling the debt loans for over 150,000 borrowers, nearly six months ahead of schedule. Starting today, we’re canceling student debt for borrowers who are enrolled in the SAVE Plan and have been paying student loans for as little as 10 years. If they borrowed less than $2,000, it’s forgiven. If they took $12,000, excuse me, the loan is forgiven. This actual will be a huge help to graduates of community college and borrowers of smaller loans, putting them back on track faster for debt forgiveness than ever before. This builds on other progress I’ve made in canceling student debt for close to 4 million Americans through various actions.

(08:22)
For example, we fixed what was called the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which was designed to make sure the school teachers, firefighters, law enforcement officers, social workers, public servants, get their student loans forgiven if they make payments for 10 years in a row and do 10 years of public service at the same time. When I took office, there were 7,000 public servants who had taken advantage of this program and hadn’t forgiven. But thanks to the reforms we made in the program, now there are nearly 800,000, have had their debts forgiven. 800,000.

(08:56)
Well let me close with this. These kind of reliefs can be life-changing for individuals and for their families. And it’s good for the economy as a whole. By freeing millions of Americans from the crushing debt of student loan programs, it means they can finally get on with their lives instead of their lives being put on hold. They can think about buying a house, starting a home, starting a family, having a family future that they can enjoy, or saving for the family’s future. Saving and putting away a little bit of money. I’m proud to have been able to give borrowers like so many of you the relief you earned. I promise you, I’m never going to stop fighting for hard working in American families. So if you qualify, you’ll be hearing from me, shortly. Thousands of people per month, or about 25,000 a month, or every two months will be paid in a 50,000 basis, but are eligible for relief and they’ll getting a letter from me, letting them know they’re qualified. And when they get that letter, your debt’s going to be forgiven.

(10:06)
Look, folks. It’s also helping you who don’t go to college. It’s not just… People say to me sometimes, “Well, Joe, that’s great. You’re helping people get into college. But how about all those hardworking people you grew up within the neighborhood? How about all those folks in labor unions? How about all those hardworking people work with their hands? Why should they have?” Well, just today my labor department announced 200… This is not the student loan program, but $200 million of grants for registered apprenticeship programs around the country, while you can learn a skilled trade and lead to good paying jobs.

(10:41)
Everybody thinks if you’re an electrician… They say, “I want to be an electrician”. You got to go to school basically. These apprenticeship programs are four and five years before you qualify to have a license. They work like hell to get these licenses. And guess what? If you work with your hands you ought to be able to make a decent living. And that’s why they’re doing it now with my position on organized labor. So it matters. All this matters.

(11:08)
My dad used to say, “Joey, a job is about more than a paycheck.” It’s about your dignity. It’s about opportunity. It’s about being able to look at your kid in the eye and say, “Honey, it’s going to be okay.” You got a chance. That’s all we’re doing, and people are taking advantage. We’re giving people a chance, a fighting chance to make it, because no one whose was willing to work hard in America should be denied the opportunity to have that chance. And so…

(11:37)
How many of you had student loans forgiven here? All right. I tell you what, how about anybody over $10,000? $30,000? $50,000?

Next month.

Next month, okay. Anyway. Seriously, thank you. And people have to understand, you not only did the right thing by busting your neck and going back to school and doing as well as you did in school, but you’re breaking your neck for people. You’re doing it through programs that benefit the society, benefit the American people. Just like I got criticized not long ago for being too favorable to organized labor and unions. Well, they’re the best workers in the world. They’re the most qualified technicians. No, they really are. They really are.

(12:32)
And the economy is growing. It’s growing. Jobs, income, across the board. We have the most advanced economy of any major nation in the world. We have a lot more to do. But with the help of all of you college graduates who’ve paid off your student loans now, I’m confident we’re going to get it all done. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.

[inaudible 00:14:01].